


Don't Look Down

by dannybsdadbod



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22052896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannybsdadbod/pseuds/dannybsdadbod
Summary: Travis has fought in the above-ground war, and he's come to Philadelphia to settle down after the fight. He meets kindergarten teacher, Nolan, who's intrigued with the above-ground and Travis.
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31
Collections: Hockey Holidays 2019





	Don't Look Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [callabang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/callabang/gifts).



> Title from Don't Look Down by Missy Higgins
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this dystopian, inventive AU for these boys!

Travis is pissed. 

He has this bum arm he clearly got from fighting in The Fight, and he can’t travel all the way back to (hometown) alone like this, how could New York think he was anything but rebel cause? He had paperwork and everything! 

Little did he know, nowhere else would take him in after The Fight. 

Like, if he were trying to infiltrate the system, he’d be a little more sly about it, thank you very much. 

Right now he just wants some water, to sit down, and a definite place to sleep tonight. It’s too dangerous to be above ground for too long now a days, and he’s going on (however many days). Even with the masks and equipment that the rebellion discharged him with. Even with New York helping him out that much, giving him a day to recoup and a new set of equipment, it’s still hard to be up here.

He’s snapped from his thoughts when he sees a sign.

**"Welcome to Philadelphia”**

_Finally_ , he thinks. 

“Here goes nothing,” he says to himself, as he enters the grate. 

“State your business,” two men stop him, pushing him against the wall as soon as he gets down the ladder. He feels a sharp pain go through his right shoulder and grunts. 

“Lundqvist said to ask for the ah,” he breathes through the pain. “The Giroux’s when I got here. Specifically, Claude.”

“Will he know who you are?” One of the guards asks him. 

“No,” he admits. “But I was fighting for the rebel cause, I can show you my papers signed by Lieutenant Vigneault. 

The guards hear his lieutenant’s name and pull him away from the wall. They don’t loosen the grip they have on his arms, however. 

“What’s your name?” one of the guards asks him.   
“Travis Konecny. Number 19011.”

The guards communicate on their walkie talkies for a second, murmuring things Travis can’t quite comprehend before they’re moving again. 

The guards hoist Travis forward, maintaining ahold on him. 

“If you guys wouldn’t mind loosening up?” He asks through a strained breath. “My shoulder it uh—it’s not the same since The Fight.” 

The guards share a look before loosening up a bit and Travis can breathe again. 

“Thanks.” 

The rest of the walk is in silence. They go further underground, Travis can see through the lamps lighting the way, and it’s getting easier and easier to breathe the longer he’s down. He didn’t realize how messed up the above-ground air was and what it did to his lungs until he finally was back underground. 

“So uh, where are you guys taking me?”   
“The Grioux’s.”   
“Wait, really?” Travis says, eyes wide. “Damn, New York didn’t trust me, I’m surprised you guys are. Like, thank you, I’m just surprised.”   
“The Giroux’s made a pact with the city when they rebuilt with the Schneider’s years ago. They wouldn’t turn anyone away without hearing their cause first.”   
“That’s so cool,” Travis says because it is.   
“I didn’t say you’re in the clear,” the one guard says. He’s a bit more on the mean side than the other one. Travis likes him.   
“Course,” Travis nods. “Thank you, though.”  
“Don’t be thanking us just yet,” the nicer guard says as they come to a stop before two large doors. 

“Giroux is through here. We come in just to make sure nothing funny happens.”   
“Understandable,” Travis nods. He takes a deep, steadying breath, before pushing the door forward with his good arm. 

“Travis Konecny, is it?” A voice greets him first.  
Travis nods once, sharp. “Number 19011, sir.”   
“No numbers here, just a name will suffice.” 

Giroux looks different than Travis anticipated. Shorter and slimmer than he thought, but still as devastatingly handsome as Lundqvist was. Just, in a more rugged way. 

“Right,” Travis says. “It’s hard to get that through my mind. I was gone for so long…”   
“Where are you originally from?”   
“Ontario”   
“You’re a far way from home,” Claude says.   
“Had no way to get back.”  
Claude hums, “So tell me, Travis, why did you fight?”   
“I signed up for the draft for the rebel cause, sir. I believe everyone should have basic freedoms. And no one should be subjected to the nuclear war who isn’t prepared.”  
“And you were prepared?” Claude quirks an eyebrow.   
“Not in the slightest,” Travis says, still standing at attention. “But I figured, if I went, someone younger, someone less ready wouldn’t have to.” 

“You can relax,” Claude says, smiling, so Travis does. He pulls his arm instinctively close to him. His shoulder’s killing him. 

“Injured, are you?”  
“They treated it a bit before I was discharged,” Travis says. “Not enough. Don’t really know what’s wrong with it.”   
“We can get that looked at.”   
“I don’t have money—” Travis starts before Claude cuts him off.   
“Again, not an issue. You fought for the rebellion, the least we can do is help you out a little until you’re back on your feet.” Claude offers him a sympathetic smile.   
He nods, pursing his lips. “I don’t want to take any hand-outs.”  
“We’re not asking you to do that. We see your fighting as service enough to help you get back on your feet.”   
“I appreciate it, sir.”   
“Jake,” Claude calls to the guard who brought him in. “Get him to the infirmary first, then we can get him settled in at the group home.”   
“What?”   
“Group home? It’s where people stay when they have nowhere else to go.”   
“No, I-I got that much. But I’m confused. You’re just going to let me stay there? What if I were trying to, I don’t know, infiltrate the system?”   
“Are you?” Claude raises his eyebrows.  
“Well, no, but—“   
Claude shrugs, “then it’s settled. You’ll stay at the group home, get a job, and we’ll see where that takes you.”   
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but uh. Like, why?”   
“Why?” Giroux repeats, smiling a little.   
Travis continues, “Yeah, why are you helping me out?”   
“My husband was in the war,” he smiles. “He’s not anymore, he’s back home. But watching him adjust to life back underground was tough. So seeing a kid like yourself with no family or anything to his name trying to reacclimate to life underground, I guess you could say I’m a little sympathetic.”  
Travis nods, “well uh, thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Travis doesn’t like the idea of having to live with other people, especially people he doesn’t know. But Giroux is being so kind, he can’t turn it down. And now he may actually figure out what the heck is going on with his shoulder, so maybe that’s a plus. 

—

The infirmary sucks, Travis realizes right away. Because all they want to do is ask him his history, how he got the injury, and then they started to poke at it! As if that wasn’t going to fucking hurt or something. It hurts non stop, thank you very much. Travis doesn’t need some doctor moving his shoulder every which way to determine that yeah, maybe it’s fucked up. 

He has to focus on breathing through his nose as the doctor tests his range of motion. 

“Okay,” he stops the doctor “that’s… I can’t move much more. It’s too much.”   
“Too painful?”   
Travis nods. “It also, like, I haven’t moved it much since being discharged, I’m not used to this.”   
“Hmm,” the doctor writes something down.   
—

Travis gets job interview the second week he’s been there, and he counts it as a huge win. It’s with some elementary school, he’d be the secretary, and honestly? That doesn’t sound too bad to him. Sitting around, taking calls, doing paperwork, whatever. He can do that. He also likes to think of himself as good with kids, so that’s a big plus. 

He lands the job, luckily, finds out pretty fast. And he feels relief for the first time since going off to fight. 

Now he can pay Giroux back, even though Giroux isn’t expecting anything back, he made that clear. But Travis doesn’t like owing people anything. If anything, he can at least contribute to the group home, now that he’ll have a steady income. 

—

So Travis would be lying if he said he didn’t have a crush on the rosy-cheeked kindergarten teacher. He’s tall and /pretty/ and has this stupid long hair that Travis finds himself drawn to.

Ivan Provorov, the principal, introduces them when Travis has his orientation, and Travis can’t help but be charmed. 

“Nolan Patrick,” Nolan extends his hand to Travis.   
“Travis Konecny,” he smiles before grimacing as he extends his bad arm to shake Nolan’s hand.   
“You okay?”   
“Yeah,” Travis smiles. “Just an ah, an injury from when I fought. But uh, I probably shouldn’t mention the rebellion around the kids, eh?”   
Nolan smiles, “They know there’s a world up there, that people sometimes come back down.”  
“Right, of course, they do.”   
“To an extent,” Nolan nods. “They don’t know the what or why, but they know some of it.”   
“Hmm, I guess that makes sense,” Travis says after giving it a bit of thought.   
“So you were up there?”   
Travis nods.   
“How long?”   
Travis sucks in a sharp breath, “Uhh…”   
“Oh shoot, I’m pushing, aren’t I? You don’t need to talk about it.”   
Travis smiles, grateful, “Yeah it was… it isn’t fun up there.”   
Nolan shoots him a sympathetic glance, 

—

Travis and Nolan keep finding excuses to spend time together. Whether it be Nolan bringing a kid into the office for discipline and staying to chat to Travis, or Travis eating his lunch conveniently at the same time Nolan has his lunch. 

Turns out, Nolan used to live in the group living situation that Travis is in, before he got his own apartment. It makes Travis happy to think that sometime soon he may have his own apartment. 

—

“Want to get coffee?” Nolan asks one day after pick up. His hair is braided and Travis thinks it’s a nice look on him.   
Travis wants this to be a date, he really does, but he isn’t sure what Nolan’s thinking. So he just smiles and says okay.

“What’s up with the hair?” Travis asks, touching it as they walk, “I like it.”   
“Oh, some of the girls did it at recess today,” Nolan blushes.  
“Yeah? It’s cute,” Travis stops himself and backtracks. “They’re cute kids.”  
“Nolan smiles, “Oh they’re the best!” 

Nolan talks most of the coffee date, it’s more than Travis has ever seen Nolan talk before. He tells him about the kids he teaches and Travis is enthralled with every word. 

At the end of the coffee date-not-date thing, Nolan tells Travis he wants to show him something. 

Nolan takes them to a secluded part of the city, one that they probably shouldn’t be in. And that’s when Travis sees it. The grate.

“Nolan,” he says, doubting. “We shouldn’t be here.”   
“Is it too much?” Nolan asks, worried.   
Travis takes a deep breath. “You don’t know what it’s like up there.”  
“I may never know,” Nolan says, somber. “And that scares me.”  
“Shouldn’t scare you more than what it’s actually like… C’mon,” Travis grabs Nolan’s hand. “Let’s go somewhere else.” 

—

Travis can’t sleep one night, and he remembers Nolan telling him whenever he can’t sleep, to find him. So he does that. 

He wanders through the dark streets before finally getting to Nolan’s apartment. 

When he can’t find Nolan, though, he’s worried. Because he knows, deep down, where he is. He’s been interested more and more in what’s above ground…

Travis doesn’t have time to get the government-regulated equipment, he has no idea how long Nolan’s been gone, so he has to trust his body will be okay for the few minutes he’s going above ground. 

“Fuck,” Travis murmurs to himself as he finds his way back to the grate that Nolan brought him to last week. He knows if there’s any way Nolan got out without being stopped, it’s through here. 

He takes a deep breath before heading out. The grate pushes easily, meaning Nolan probably was here not long ago. 

Travis searches his initial perimeter, what he can see, trying to pinpoint Nolan. 

“Nolan!” He yells, against his mind telling him to keep all his air for himself. “NOLAN!” He tries again. 

He finds Nolan after what’s only a couple of seconds, but what feels like hours. His lungs are burning.

Nolan’s lying face first in a patch of dirt not far out from the exit Travis went through. He wonders how long he’s been there. How pulse is thready, and Travis is pissed at him for even thinking he could try to do this alone. And he’s worried. Above all else, he’s worried.

/Fuck/ Travis thinks to himself. He doesn’t have a plan here to get Nolan back. And Nolan doesn’t have time for Travis to run back underground and explain what happened to someone to get them to come help. 

“Nol?” He tries to shake him, to see if he can wake him. 

“Mmm?” 

“Good, yeah, c’mon, let’s get you up.” 

Travis is starting to wheeze, himself. He needs to work fast. 

—

“HELP!” Travis yells as soon as he can breathe again. It’s the middle of the night and he has no idea how he and Nolan are going to get to the infirmary alone after being out for so long. 

“SOMEONE,” he gasps. “PLEASE HELP!” 

Travis is practically dragging Nolan beside him, and his mind keeps wandering to what’s going to happen if he can’t get him the help he needs fast enough.

Luckily, Travis runs into one of Giroux’s guys. One from before, when he first got here. 

“Help, please, he went above-ground with no equipment!”   
“How—“  
“It doesn’t matter, we need to get him help _now_.”  
The guard nods, picking up Nolan easily into a fireman hold. Travis would be in awe had they been in any other situation here. 

When they get to the infirmary, Nolan immediately gets hooked up to an oxygen mask, IV, and other wires to monitor him. Travis isn’t sure what all of them do, he just needs them to help Nolan. 

“Thank you,” Travis says to the guard after they take Nolan back. “Uh…?”  
“Kevin.”   
“Kevin,” Travis repeats.  
“How did he get out?” The guard, Kevin, asks.   
Travis sighs and explains where the grate is that Nolan left through. Kevin leaves then to tell Giroux and get it locked tight. 

“Will he get in trouble?”   
“Nolan? No, Giroux likes him. He taught his son. He probably learned his lesson through his anyway.”

\--

Travis stays by Nolan’s bedside the entire time he’s asleep and recovering. 

He keeps thinking, what if he had been able to sleep tonight. What if he didn’t find Nolan in time. What if what if what if. 

He shakes his head, trying to get himself to knock it off. But it’s so easy for his mind to travel back there. 

“Trav?” He hears a groggy voice.   
“Nolan? Hey, bud!” He smiles at him and takes his hand.   
“God, everything hurts,” Nolan winces.   
Travis fights to roll his eyes, “Yeah, bud. That’s 'cause you’re a grade-A dumbass who tried to go above ground without equipment!” Then softer, “I was so worried about you.”   
“I’m okay,” Nolan says. “Right?”   
Travis nods, “For now. There may be long term damage to your lungs, Nols…”  
“I guess we’re gonna deal with that as it comes…”   
“We?” Travis smirks at him. “Someone’s presumptuous.”  
“Yeah, well, you are my knight in shining armor now, you’re kinda stuck with me.”   
Travis pretends to think about it, “Yeah, I think I can get behind that.”   
Nolan smiles small, “Really?”   
Travis kisses his hand, “Yeah, Nolan. Really.”


End file.
